donating to charity

While most of us associate the Fourth of July with fireworks and barbecue (and taking a long weekend off from work), it's also an important day to give thanks to the people who help keep us safe. Both the soldiers in action and our veterans need (and deserve) our support. Here are some easy—well, one or two aren't that easy, but if you like to run you'll have a blast!—ways for you to say "thank you." Help Struggling Widows Taryn Davis created the American Widow Project (AWP) when her husband (who had been her high school sweetheart) was killed in Bahgdad at the age of 22. "I wish I could have said that with time things became easier, but three months after his funeral I felt helpless, ostracized, and like the only 21-year-old military widow in the world," Davis says. "Having nearly given up all hope to live, I knew I needed to live for Michael until I could find a reason to live for myself." The AWP helps young women get back on their feet with a support hotline, scholarships, and group getaways. You can help by volunteering to host a fund-raising event—either online or perhaps a margarita mixer read more

From now until next August, the Body Shop will be donating money from the sales proceeds of its super-yummy Dragon Fruit Lip Butter to three nonprofits—Sprout Up, an organization dedicated to providing environmental education in public schools; WeStopHate, which is committed to emboldening youth; and Big Cat Rescue, the largest accredited sanctuary in the world that takes in abused and abandoned big cats. Last week, I flew down to Tampa to see, firsthand, the work that Big Cat Rescue does—and find out how the Body Shop helps take care of our furry four-legged friends. Have you ever been to a fair or a mall where someone had some tiger cubs or other wild cat species babies out for "petting"? Well, turns out that the sale and trafficking of big cats and other wild feline species is a huge problem in the United States. It's lucrative—with some cubs going for thousands of dollars on the black market—but because most, if not all, private owners are incapable, ill-equipped, or unable to provide proper care and quality living conditions for their animals once they reach adulthood, lots of these cubs are torn from their mothers at too young an age, abused, not read more

With every report coming out of the Philippines worse than the last, many of us are looking for ways to help. Typhoon Haiyan (also called Yolanda), which made landfall on Friday packing 147 mph winds and a 20-foot rise in sea waters, is the worst typhoon to have hit the Philippines. According to the latest numbers, 10,000 people are feared dead, and many, many more are without shelter, food, and water. Fortunately, international rescue and recovery groups are heading to the storm-battered country, and we've compiled a list of organizations where you can donate. The Philippine Red Cross Donations (100 PHP is equal to $2.30) will help mobilize teams on the ground with rescue and relief efforts. They also have a tracking page to help find family members. The American Red Cross You can donate online, or to support relief in the Philippines you can mail a check to your local American Red Cross chapter designating Philippines Typhoons and Flood in the memo line. UNICEF Supporting relief efforts by helping displaced families find access to shelter, clean water, food, and vaccines, the group is also airlifting additional supplies from its Copenhagen warehouse. You can donate online, call 800-367-5437, or text read more

When it comes to kids and cooking, I learned a lot from my mother. Or should I say, mothers. I grew up with two spectacular, and spectacularly different, role models: my mother, a fiercely independent single working mom who was a pioneer in her chosen field of biochemistry; and my stepmother, a fiercely independent at-home mom who defied family expectations by moving from Switzerland to the United States to marry my dad. Their paths in life were different, but they had a lot in common besides that fierce independence: They both loved me completely, and they both showed it at the dinner table. My mother was the queen of working-woman efficiency: Her meals could be fully prepared in the 19 minutes between the screen-door slam that marked her arrival home from work and the moment we sat down to eat. (In the event that they couldn't be, I would start them myself after school, following meticulous typed instructions she'd prepared that morning.) She believed in quick-cooking flank steak, flash-fried broccoli, and cheesy rice-and-beans casseroles that could be made on Sunday and frozen; ever the scientist, she also believed meals always had to have a protein, a starch, a cooked read more

Everyone may still be talking about last night's star-studded 12-12-12 concert for Sandy (Katie's hair! Kanye's skirt! Wings!), but if your idea of an "all-star lineup" for 2012 is more "viral video stars" than "old guys on guitar," I have an early Christmas gift for you. "While 12-12-12 [was about] bringing together the biggest stars in the world, we're bringing together the biggest YouTube stars," said Shira Lazar, producer and host of What's Trending, the Emmy-nominated interactive online talk show. Her crew is partnering with Virgin Mobile to update the classic Jerry Lewis-style telethon for the digital age with tonight's First Annual Tube-A-Tweet-A-Thon Holiday Extravaganza benefiting Covenant House, a nonprofit dedicated to helping homeless youth with shelters in 22 cities across the U.S., Canada, and Latin America, including areas of New York and New Jersey hit hardest by Sandy. So the two-hour special isn't broadcasting live on a network (how old school!), it's streaming live on YouTube. Stars won't be manning the phones, they'll be standing by the Twitter Wall. And for every tweet with the hashtag #Tubeathon, Virgin Mobile is donating one dollar to Covenant House, up to $50,000. Guys, this is easier than calling a hotline—a phone number read more

OBVIOUSLY there are bigger things going on than weddings right now—people need food, shelter, clothing, and more in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. But there are many brides and grooms up and down the East Coast who have of friends and family members traveling to their weddings this weekend, and they could use some help, too. (To be clear: I'm not saying help throw a wedding INSTEAD of donating blood or whatever. But if you have the resources to help in multiple ways, maybe consider all of them.) read more

Hurricane Sandy left her devastating mark not only in New York, where Glamour is based, and other spots in the U.S. (we're bringing you updates scattered from our own homebases around the city), but many areas on the map including Haiti, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, too. Want to help? Here's how you can. read more

When 28-year-old Michelle Braun, a Minnesota-based entrepreneur, read the story of Krissy Kobata in Glamour's January 2012 issue, she couldn't stop thinking about it. Kobabta, a mixed-race 29-year-old is suffering from a rare blood disorder, and is struggling to find a bone marrow donor match because of her half-Japanese half-Caucasian roots. Braun registered herself as a potential donor the next day--and then had an idea to get others to register, too: throw a party. read more

Do you have a Threadless tee in your drawer? I bet you do. Here are more you're about to be dying to own--especially because 100 percent of the net profits go to CARE, to help mothers and children in the developing world! read more

Since 1990, Glamour has saluted inspiring, high-achieving women through our Women of the Year Awards. This annual event has had an astonishing impact on politics and society--sometimes even saving lives. read more

Each year, the Glamour Women of the Year Fund initiative gives readers the opportunity to reach out to extraordinary women around the world. This year, you can help the efforts of Esraa Abdel Fattah, a hero of Egypt's pro-democracy movement. Once again Glamour is working with Vital Voices, a nonprofit that trains global leaders. By donating to the Women of the Year Fund, you will be giving directly to a program that: read more

There are a lot of things I’m proud of in the upcoming June issue of Glamour, but there’s one I want to tell you about now—a report that opened my eyes, pissed me off, but then gave me hope. I believe it will do the same for you. It all comes down to two simple words: Tell Somebody. read more

Hi, Glamourites! Let’s all sit back and review the week that’s passed, filled as it was with earthquake news and the continuing saga of Charlie Sheen. Read my choices and tell me what I’ve missed! Beginning with... read more

Since 1990, Glamour has saluted inspiring, high-achieving women through our Women of the Year Awards. This annual event has had an astonishing impact on politics and society--sometimes even saving lives. read more

Every year, many Glamour staffers take part in Light the Night, the NYC Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's annual walk for cancer over the Brooklyn Bridge. Once again our incredible Photo Director Suzanne Donaldson is leading the charge, and for the second year in a row, her daughter, Sophie, has brought us to tears. read more